farm, they summoned one of the livestock managers to show me around. I then spent about an hour viewing the broodmares in their field. Joan arrived and soon supper was served on the veranda overlooking the mare pasture. I pointed out a chestnut roan mare that I thought especially striking, "Oh, she has a full brother, a stallion, out by you," she replied. She had sold Farnley Sparkler (by F Sirius, a son of Coed Coch Glyndwr and Seren X Cui Glitter, also the dam of F Lustre) to Mollie Butler of GlanNant Farm and Mollie had sold him to Bill Winkelman in Iowa. I knew Bill. He held a pony auction the first Saturday in December every year. That winter I went to the sale and inquired of the pony. Bill had sold him and couldn't remember to whom. I forgot about him, but I had told my good friend, Thalia Rinedollar nee Gentzel, about what had happened. Several years passed and I got an excited call from Thalia. She'd told Mollie Butler what I'd done and Mollie had gotten a call from the pony's owner. He was moving to town and was contacting previous owners listed on the pony's papers to see if they wanted him back. If not, he was going to put the old pony down. Mollie knew we were interested and gave us the contact information. Thalia, her young daughter Molly, and I drove to Iowa and got him ASAP! We had him for seven seasons from age 21 and he put numerous foals on the ground for us. He was my first purebred Welsh stallion and established me as a serious breeder. I still have three of his daughters, all in their mid-20s. A grandson was second highest selling small at the 2007 Pony Finals sale. Farnley Sparkler was a 12.3 1/2 hand liver chestnut roan with a reputation of jumping out of any pasture he was put in BUT Mollie Butler told us he was terrified of electric fencing. I put a hot wire around my small pasture and he lived out with his mares most of the year. He would come up to a wood fence and check its height. If he could get his chin over, he knew he could jump out. During the winter, Sparky had to be in the barn as the herd had to cross his field to access the heated water tank. Thalia would come to visit and he'd promptly back her against the stall wall. She'd have a moment's panic until remembering that he just wanted to have his bottom scratched! I would ride him daily and had borium put on his shoes due to the ice and snow. I'd hold his bridle up and he'd grab the bit and head for the door. I had to
be fast to slip it over his ears as he was going for a ride! I rode him bareback and it was obvious he enjoyed every minute, perhaps recalling his show ring days! But old Sparky was losing his teeth and Equine Senior was not yet on the market. I had a hammer mill and ground the finest alfalfa along with corn and oats. He survived for years and stayed fertile on this diet until 28 years of age. When he died I had the very sad job of informing Thalia and Molly.
The Farnley Connection What an impact the Blue Hen broodmare, *Coed Coch Seren, has had on our breeding program! Her daughter, Farnley Monocle, was the dam of Farnley Reflection, the sire of GlanNant Epic. Epic represented the only Farnley cross with Mollie Butler's excellent Sec B foundation mare, *Coed Coch Prydyddes - and what a blend of movement, jumping ability, will to do and presence that turned out to be! Back in 1986, we were interested in obtaining Epic as he had sired McGregor, 2X AHSA Horse of the Year. Little did we anticipate when he came to us in IL at age 21, that he would end up Top Ten on the USEF Leading Pony Hunter Sires list year after year! Epic died at age 36 with his head in my lap here in IL on May 18, 2000 - and on the same spot on October 26 of that year, his longtime companion, Rollingwoods GinN-Tonic, foaled the last live cover Epic foal, Helicon Epilogue, a full brother to Finals Champion, H Take Notice. And in 2007 we had our first double Epic foal by Epilogue. It is my great joy to have this feminine counterpart of the old man! Another Seren grandson (by Farnley Sirius) was Farnley Sparkler who came on co-ownership at age 21 or 22. He had literally jumped his way out of Bill Winkelman's program. Bill's elderly aunt would come to the family homestead at Lohrville in the summers. Growing tired of midnight calls from the sheriff that Sparkler was again touring the town, she uttered a proclamation that, "If there is one more call, he will have to go!" Well, you know the rest of the story! I could go on and on, but suffice to say that the Farnley blood has been of extraordinary value to our program - as it has to so many others across the nation! Helicon Take Notice
Molly Rinedollar on Farnley Sparkler, 1978.